DA recuses office from videotaped beating cases

Harris County District Attorney Mike Anderson recused his office Wednesday from prosecuting three Houston police officers accused in the videotaped beating of a 15-year-old robbery suspect.

After attorneys on both sides agreed to the move, state District Judge Ruben Guerrero appointed two special prosecutors, Jon Munier and Tommy LaFon, to go forward in the cases.

The recently elected Anderson decided the office should not participate in the prosecution because his wife, a defense lawyer, represented an officer who was involved in the March 24, 2010, incident but not charged with a crime, said Julian Ramirez, the chief of the district attorney's division that investigates and prosecutes wrongdoing by police officers.

"It's a no-win situation," Ramirez said after Wednesday's hearing. If the cases end with guilty verdicts, defense lawyers could claim prosecutors knew something because Devon Anderson, the district attorney's wife, was involved in the defense, he said.

If juries acquit the officers, critics could say prosecutors were not motivated because the elected district attorney's wife had a vested interest in the case.

Devon Anderson represented Lewis Childress, a 24-year HPD veteran who was fired for his role in the Holley beating, but was not charged with a crime. Childress appealed his firing and regained his job last September. He testified in the trial of Andrew Blomberg, who was found not guilty of any wrongdoing last year.

Blomberg and three other officers - Phil Bryan, Raad Hassan and Drew Ryser - were indicted on charges of official oppression, a Class A misdemeanor. Bryan and Hassan also were charged with violation of the civil rights of a prisoner, a misdemeanor.

Ryser's attorney, Carson Joachim, said the attorneys for the officers facing trial were told about the change before Wednesday's hearing.

Munier and LaFon, former prosecutors turned defense lawyers, are well-respected fixtures at the courthouse.

Munier said the high-profile case which garnered national attention was "just another case."

"I'm probably the only person in town who hasn't seen the entirety of the video," Munier said of the videotaped beating that outraged Houston when released in 2011. "I didn't really want to see it until I had to and now I have to, I'll do what I have to do to get ready to try the case."

The video shows several officers kicking and punching teen Chad Holley as he is lying on his stomach with his hands behind his head. The police were chasing Holley and other teenagers from a burglary in progress call in southwest Houston. A jury later convicted Holley of burglary in the case.

Munier expects to schedule the next officer's trial, likely Hassan's, during a pre-trial hearing next month.